Fallopian Tube Recanalization

What Is Fallopian Tube Recanalization (FTR)?

The fallopian tubes are vitally important for female fertility. They are how the eggs get from the ovaries to the uterus. Under normal circumstances, sperm will travel into the fallopian tubes to fertilize an egg released from the ovary, and the resulting embryo is nourished and transported to the uterus where the pregnancy will continue to term. A common cause of female infertility is blockage of the fallopian tubes, usually as the result of debris that has built up. Occasionally, scarring from surgery or serious infection can lead to occlusion.

Interventional radiologists are able to diagnose and treat blockages in the fallopian tubes with a nonsurgical procedure known as Fallopian Tube Recanalization (FTR). Recanalization is the technical term for reopening. During the procedure, which does not require any needles or incisions, a speculum is placed into the vagina and a small plastic tube (catheter) is passed through the cervix the into the uterus. A liquid contrast agent (sometimes called "dye", although nothing is being stained), is injected through the catheter. An X-ray camera shows the uterine cavity on a television screen and what is called a "hystero-salpingogram" or "HSG" is obtained. Literally, that means a "uterus-and-fallopian-tube-picture".

If a blockage of one or both of the fallopian tubes is identified, a smaller catheter is then threaded through the first catheter right then into the fallopian tube to open the blockage. Over 90% of the time, at least one blocked fallopian tube can be reopened and normal function restored.

Who should consider fallopian tube recanalization?

Sometimes, women have a hysterosalpingogram in a doctor's office, clinic, or X-ray department that shows a blockage. Sometimes they are found to have a problem with the tubes during laparoscopy, when the doctors inject blue dye into the uterus an examine the tubes using a "scope", and nothing passes through. Sometimes, a blockage is discovered during a sonogram in which sterile saline (water) is injected into the uterus. At this point, an interventional radiologist can evaluate the tubes and will try to unblock them at the same time if possible.